Did you really have to change 
into a mage first item? I mean, everyone could grab it first before, but now you have both the mana AND the burst that everysingle APs in midlane need. I dunno, the burst from this item seems a little too high earlygame for something that you can buy quite early without any single drawback...
Bonipherus1 votesThe way I see it, the current abundance of stems from 2 main factors: short games and lack of competition. Currently, you either try to scale with tear or you get ludens but... ludens will almost always be a superior choice for the quick damage boost when games often end in 20 minutes. The lack of options for many mages might make it seem like ludens is overpowered (it could be and you might be perfectly valid in making an argument about its need for base damage/scaling adjustments) but currently it is going to be the go-to rush item because the meta favors early damage/snowballing and because of a lack of valid alternative first items to fit playstyles.
is supposed to be the third competitor between ludens and seraphs but it isn't even an item which can be considered competitive among the others right now. I say this is mainly due to the item not really fitting any champion type because, without the hp it used to have, the few champions who fit the 'mid range ap bruiser who wants to make picks and control the battlefield' playstyle (
) are generally lacking item choices to accommodate this. They need to revert and add a new mana/ap item which offers an active (maybe a skillshot for some added damage?) that will be an attractive option for mid laners and give more playstyle choices.
Basically the items should go:
= poke
/ 
= scaling
= control
= bruiser
(new item) = burst
has identity issues now too and it needs some tuning to give it one
